Snow Trail 1870-2020 WINTER 2021 A PUBLICATION OF THE MAINE SKI AND SNOWBOARD MUSEUM • MAIN STREET • KINGFIELD, MAINE History of the Museum Maine Ski and Snowboard Museum was founded in 1995 as the Ski Museum of Maine by a small group of friends from the Sugarloaf Ski Club. Within a The Maine Ski and Snowboard Museum is a 501( c ) (3) charitable organization, established decade the museum became a nonprofit corporation and obtained a grant to in 1995 with the mission to celebrate, preserve begin accessioning an initial collection of artifacts and documents. In 2006 the and share the history and heritage of Maine Board of Directors hired its first executive director and rented exhibit space skiing and snowboarding. in downtown Farmington. In 2009 the museum moved to its current location on Main St. in Kingfield. In 2016 the museum purchased the New England Offi cers Ski Museum’s “Mountains of Maine-Skiing in the Pine Tree State” exhibit- President: Glenn Parkinson, Freeport dedicating the exhibit to John Christie. The museum was renovated in 2017 Secretary: Russ Murley, West Bethel and a “Maine Olympians” Exhibit added in 2018. A satellite gallery opened Treasurer: Wende Gray, Bethel in 2018 at the Bethel Historical Society with a permanent “History of Oxford County Skiing” exhibit. In 2019 both the “Maine Olympians” and “Mountains of Board Members Maine” were converted to mobile traveling exhibits. In 2020, the Ski Museum Kip Files, Carrabassett Valley of Maine changed its name to the Maine Ski and Snowboard Museum. Laurie Fitch, Portland Dave Irons, Westbrook Jon Morrill, Portland You can help preserve Maine’s ski and snowboard history Dave Ridley, Camden and heritage beyond your lifetime by becoming a member of Frank Rogers, Kingfield the Maine Ski & Snowboard Heritage Society and including a Matt Sabasteanski, Raymond financial bequest to the museum in your estate plan. Dan Warner, Hanover For more information contact MSSM at Rebecca Woods, Auburn [email protected], 207-265-2023. Staff Executive Director: Theresa Shanahan Curator: Karen Campbell Bookkeeper: Leslie Norton FOR YOUR Maine Ski and Snowboard Museum PO Box 359 HOME, AUTO, 256 Main St. Kingfield, ME 04947 LIFE, AND 207-265-2023 BUSINESS, www.maineskiandsnowboardmuseum.org [email protected] JOIN THE FAMILY AT... Winter 2021 Snow Trail Contributors: Glenn Parkinson, Karen Campbell, 800-360-3000 | ChalmersInsuranceGroup.com Dave Irons Managing Editor: Wende Gray Layout & Design: Royal River Graphics Family-owned for four generations 2 COOPER FRIEND, PRESIDENT President’s Column In our last Snow Trail magazine President These are exciting times. We have recently changed our name to Cooper Friend wrote, “Please allow me to the Maine Ski and Snowboard Museum. We are about to open our share what your museum has been doing new exhibit, Tall Timber Classic and we have ongoing research since the onset of this pandemic. Our projects-oral histories, archive accessioning and a dedicated Ski unofficial motto from the very beginning of Maps Project. We are living up to Cooper’s unofficial motto. this difficult time has been, Let’s get ready to rumble.” We have had to make some We are working hard to celebrate, preserve and share the artifacts concessions, such as postponing for a year of Maine’s skiing and snowboarding past. Our ski history is not our Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. Cooper then listed 12 things made of just facts and things, it is also made of stories. I look that we have done to move your museum forward. forward to sharing more of the stories from our shared wintertime fun. Cooper Friend and Peter Weston, our President and Vice President respectively, have decided to step down. Together, they worked hard to grow the Museum, I thank them for their hard work and With gratitude, am excited to be back in the role of President. Glenn Parkinson THERESA SHANAHAN Executive Director’s Report It has been very interesting at the museum having an event indoors worthy of the 8 inductees of the Class of since March. We are thankful to all the 2020, the committee decided to postpone the event until October visitors who have come since the onset of 15, 2021. COVID (from as far away as Alaska!)-all donning their masks and practicing social The Fourth Annual “Legends Alpine Race” will be held on distancing. We had a group from New Thursday March 11th at Mt. Abram. If you have the need for York City who toured the museum and speed and are over 50, sign up for this GS race on our website. shared their ski stories. Another visitor On Saturday, March 13th Black Mountain will be hosting the “Tom from Telluride, CO told me “your museum is much nicer than Kendall Legends of Maine 5K Nordic Race”. Last year’s event at the museum in Vail”. We are very proud of our exhibits and look Black Mtn. was canceled due to COVID. We are looking forward to forward to sharing our upcoming exhibit this winter – Tall Timber sharing this event with the great Chisholm Ski Club at Black Mtn. Classic the 50th Anniversary of Maine’s 1971 World Cup Races. Kittery Trading Post and Rossignol will be sponsoring both events. At the Richardson House of the Museums of the Bethel Historical Society we are sharing the 60th Anniversary of Mt. Abram along Thank you to all that continue to support the museum. We couldn’t with our permanent exhibit which tells the history of skiing and do it without you. snowboarding in Oxford County. The 18th Maine Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame Banquet which Be well, was to be held on October 17 at Sugarloaf was postponed. After Theresa Shanahan careful consideration of the Maine CDC guidelines in regards to Celebrating, Preserving & Sharing the History and Heritage of Skiing and Snowboarding in Maine 3 Name Change In his 1936 book “Skiing For All” Otto Schniebs reminded us image of a ski turn. This is shown on a binding box illustrating that “A skier should never forget that skis are after all only an how to set up the binding. instrument, a means, through which we can enjoy winter in all its glory and ruggedness, can breathe clean fresh air, can meet That concept of a big swooping S was human beings in their true character and can forget all the petty common in the 1940s and 1950s, as in troubles which beset our so-called civilization.” this clip art from Ski Magazine in 1956. The Ski Museum of Maine is now the Maine Ski and In our new logo we use that same image. Snowboard Museum. Our mission is to Celebrate, Preserve and It is both a nod to our sport’s past and a Share the History and Heritage of Skiing and Snowboarding in statement that when you look back there Maine. For most of us, it has always been about the wintertime is no real difference between a ski turn mountain experience. “We are simply choosing to use a and a snowboard turn. different tool for descending an alpine environment.” writes Olympic Snowboard Cross Gold Medalist (twice!) Seth Wescott. By adding snowboarding to our name and our mission we are simply acknowledging that Seth is right, the only difference between skiing and Dovre does a snowboarding is the choice great job of incorporating a of tool. ski turn into their name. As a Museum we have always wanted to understand and preserve our sport’s past. By limiting that to just skiing we were making a decision based on the tool being used. Why do we ski? It is not because we want to strap two skis to our feet. It is because we want to get outside, to “appreciate winter in all its rugged glory”. With that in mind the choice of ski Another box of Hjalmar Hvam or snowboard becomes no more than a choice of which tool to toe irons. In the early 1950s, use. Both accomplish the same thing. Hjalmar started advertising with the slogan “Hvoom with Hvam In 1938 Hjalmar Hvam designed and sold the first release toe and have no fear.” piece, the Saf-Ski. He used a big swooping “S” to create the 4 maineskiandsnowboardmuseum.org • [email protected] • 207.265.2023 Maine Ski and Snowboard Museum Trail Map Collection By Glenn Parkinson Maps are a lot more than just geography. You can learn about what it was like. Look politics, religion, art, science and much more by studying maps. at the description of the That got me wondering what can be learned by studying ski Wayshego Trail from the maps. 1939 “Skier’s Guide To New England”. It tells We have received a $10,000 grant from an anonymous donor you how to get to the to support our Ski Map Project. With this we bought archival trail, how wide it was, storage material to protect our maps. We also bought a 24 the maximum grade, megapixel Canon camera so we can digitize the collection. Pete that it had exposure to Weston built a vacuum table for us. Karen, our curator, can lay the north and the vertical a map down and the vacuum table holds it flat so she can take drop. That little piece better pictures. We will share our maps with you online. at the end, “banked corners”? Those two The US Eastern Amateur Ski Association Yearbook in 1928 words hold a big story. had no descriptions or maps of any ski trails. They did however President Roosevelt This map is from the 1938-39 American have diagrams of the Ski Jumps around New England.